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RiTides wrote:Hopefully someone will come up with Battle Scribe or Army Builder files before then, even

Scourge file's done, just sending it off to a friend to get all the validation added (I really do suck at that bit)

Next up...PHR seems to be quite popular?

Tada, first Neptune done

Very nice, hopefully I can blast it out of the sky on Monday.

Now now play nicely you two, looks good mark im swaying into buying but still wanna see how it all plays first!

Thanks Nick, but not before it offloads its cargo already eyeing up expansions to the force, very much want to get into Battle size games.

Gorillawizard wrote:

Tada, first Neptune done

Just a thought.
I dont like the block metal colour of parts of the superstructure, I would have painted the nose and engine cowling red or white or both. The piping and the fans work well as metal.

nice work, very different from the PHR schemes in the book.

You adding magnets to it?

Gorillawizard wrote:Thanks Nick, but not before it offloads its cargo already eyeing up expansions to the force, very much want to get into Battle size games.

I'm thinking about expansions too, I want a bit of everything really.

EDIT: started building some terrain, only got access to 200gsm card and some basic glue but the printable buildings go together really nicely.



Look pretty good too.

Awesome Neptune, Gorillawizard! Orlanth does make a nice suggestion to try, too.

Nick, did Hawk mail your replacement case yet? Building looks great!

Charax, can't wait for the battle scribe Scourge file

Not recieved anything yet. Got a big pile of printouts to build now. Including the enormous 3x3 tall commercial, that thing is 9 1/2" tall.

I'm 8 buildings down and counting, plus a trip to a local train model shop opened my eyes to thw N gauge world, I have plans for a municiple park surrounded by railings with hedges, trees and fountains surrounded by highrises and brown stones like a mini central park! I think I already have more better looking and cheaper terrain for DzC then for 40k! The print out building work great and the solid plastic core makes them absolutly solid!

OK. I promised earlier that I had a source of cheap buildings to show you and was going to write an article. The article is not done yet, but I have received an order of the stuff I was after and can confirm its quality as well as its price.

The companies and ranges I am going to recommend are both Japanese, one is called Tomix the other Greenmax. Unlike other N scale Japanese railway kits these are at a decent price. Tomix, also known as Tomytec deals with cheaper pre-constructed buildings, example here:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/3540571876_3633e89b7f.jpg?v=0

The building above is large, in scale and above all potentially very cheap.

Greenmax, which is the real prize deals entirely with plastic kit buildings. Their range is superb, and even cheaper. The plastic kits are the quality of what you would expect from a plastic model kit company and have sprues laden with bits.


http://www.greenmax.co.jp/Catalog/GMstract_2.shtml

Here is a link to the relevant page of the companies online catalogue. Now here is the problem, they only deal to Japanese toy shops and don't deal direct. So access is going to be difficult, thanks to Miguelsan for some research into this.. Two eBay webstore frequently get supply, neither have an off eBay presence (I asked). Search both under the words Tomix N gauge structure or Greenmax n gauge structure

ebay store: Hit-Japan
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hit-Japan-Video-Games-and-Anime

eBay store: Plaza Japan
http://myworld.ebay.com/plazajapan/


One could try this website that deals inside Japan
http://www.1999.co.jp/

Buying in the UK is difficult as the one or two sites selling include a HUGE markup. I am resorting to eBay shop Plaza Japan for now, it is not expensive, but stock levels are fluid. Much is missing.

Yanks have it easier
http://www.bttrains.com/categories/Japanese-Prototypes/Structures/

BTTrains is reasonably cheap as are Lees Trains

http://www.leestrains.com/N%20Bldg%20Accessories.htm

For those in the US I recommend BT trains or Lees Trains as a source, here is the relevant page for Greenmax items. Take especially note of items 34, 44, 46-4, 46-6 and 46-7. All of which are cheap have as many of six buildings in the set that are assembleable many aways and can be kitbashed for spares. There are numerous kitbashing threads for Greenmax model kits, mostly involving making skyscrapers out of them. We wont need stuff that tall but could certainly use the versatility.

As a bonus most of these kits are flat roofed or can be modeled with removable roofs. This mans that with a little simple interior detailing (mostly just a top floor made of plasticard one can stand miniatures on or in them. as they are Japanese kits you can make them more futuresque for the most part. An exception being the factory I will review below, which pays back with its limitless versatility.



I bought a copy of this and it arrived today. images from net:


This little picture above fails to convery the awesomeness of this kit below.


This factory is BIG and stupid cheap. I paid less than £15 for it, and that was after translating the price from Yen to £ through Paypal.

Only buy the factory itself, model numberr 37. It includes all the other elements of the set, the factory, pipe farm extra bits and chimneys. I will however be using 37-x subkits to show you what is on the sprues.


Here is the chimney stack and bitz set. One of the chimneys is begging to be converted into an oil derrick objective (a way of having an out of the way, place anywhere objective which is small and a logical focal point for capture). The main chimney is not only awesome to place beside the main factory, it can kitbash into a fantastic looking cannon barrel for a Baneblade or an artillery installation.


Now this is a copy of 37 Set A. Now unlike the other sets where what you see you get in the main 37 set, you only get one sprue, exactly haldf of what you see below. So the shack is reduced to just a lean to to add to the factory. You do therefore gets plenty of industrial bitz, plastic building toppers, vats and barrels and an I beam loading rig.



The set includes this pipefarm:



I really like the pipefarm its gamer terrain gold.


I held off my review of Greenmax stuff until I saw it for myself. I bought the factory as a starter and its every bit as impressive as I hoped it would be. I \m going to buy a whole lot more Greenmax kits especially:

34 Houses (6)


44 Apartment blocks (2)


I am reading so much on how both or those kits are kitbasher gold. Cheap numerous and stackable. Kit 44 especially can be assembled as large tower blocks real easy. More thasn enough to cover 6" height buildings with roof space to place stands of infantry. Not only are they big but you get multiple models in the set, score.

46-4, 46-6 and 46-7




46-6 and 46-7 are different kits but have the same instructions.

Very Japanese, but also with a little work quite futuristic.


Think about stacking these kits high or wide as you might a GW bastion. So by omitting internal dividers a two unit kit can be either joined together or doubled up and built twice as wide and deep with the same walls. As the buildings are sold in pairs or sets of four you can do this from a single kit. You can easily make up flat rooved high rise buildings for objectives with this, many kits include extra base elements so you can convert those into extra roofs to allow for the doubling up. the kits also include a large choice in roof edging and toppers so you will have more than enough stuff to trim the roof edges, provide ventilation units etc and still have room for stands of infantry.

I will leave you to search the rest for yourself.
There is too much there to show here. I will be producing an article including kitbashing guides (mostly taken from model railways sites), my own kitbashing attempts as they progress and a sourcing guide. 10mm gaming is going tom be big thanks to Dropzone Commander and while Hawk Wargames are doing a fine job in providing accessibility for structure I know we can take it to a whole new level with Greenmax and Tomix kits.

I will end here with a Tomix 'skyscraper' that is 25cm tall and pre-assembled prepainted as seen here yet selling for only £17 if you look carefully.




If like me you liked the container range from AT-43 as decent non nonsense plausible LOS blockers you might be happy to note that Tomix can provide a container park for you at a fairly reasonable price if you look carefully. When searching make sure you get plastic kits not cardboard cut outs, the difference in quality is enormous.

For example
http://www.newhallstation.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=548
Mentioned for the picture links, you can shave half that price off by shopping around elsewhere.



All told even with the discounts it is easy to sink a lot of money into 10mm scale terrain,m but it is also possible to buy a lot of diverse and quality terrain items to fight your battles in around or over.

Enjoy

ah, so that's what it looks like when you're enthusiastic about something, I was beginning to wonder

Great review, I'd never have thought of importing terrain from japan as being a viable source of relatively inexpensive terrain, but you're right that the greenmax stuff looks like a treasure trove of bits - combines with the downloadable buildings and perhaps a few smatterings of Hawk's resin range you could end up with a very diverse, vibrant and, most importantly, full cityscape for a £50-100 or less

Charax wrote:ah, so that's what it looks like when you're enthusiastic about something, I was beginning to wonder

Great review, I'd never have thought of importing terrain from japan as being a viable source of relatively inexpensive terrain, but you're right that the greenmax stuff looks like a treasure trove of bits - combines with the downloadable buildings and perhaps a few smatterings of Hawk's resin range you could end up with a very diverse, vibrant and, most importantly, full cityscape for a £50-100 or less

I am not sure about £50, £100 maybe. The thing is this stuff is more-ish, I have been looking at model railway sites and there is a temptation to turn many of the kits you see above into an on table Manhattan. Just to give you some idea:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55063726@N00/3143888524/
http://jmtn.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/new-greenmax-city-building-kits/#more-611
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=804510

We wont be doing that, its against out interests to fill tables with tower blocks, but we will want LOS blockers, objectives some terrain over 6" tall. Don't deceive yourself the cost may well mount up, but I think it will be worth it.

Driopzone Commander is a wow game that deserve a wow battlefield. I have lit the path for you to have one. and yes Hawk resin kits will feature a part of that. However with the prices of Greenmax and Tomix it may take a minor role.

Gorillawizard wrote:

Tada, first Neptune done

It would be cool to see a 28mm model next to it for scale..

ChocolateGork, welcome back to your thread

Orlanth, cool finds on the buildings! For now I am going all printout with money going to models, but it's a great resource.

ChocolateGork wrote:It would be cool to see a 28mm model next to it for scale..

I can't provide any photos of a 28mm scale model next to a dropship but I have taken a comparison photo showing just how big a GW Space Marine is compared to UCM Bear and Sabre models, just click the link in my sig.

Just one warning to everyone painting infantry is really really fiddly. Still a few colours and a simple wash and they look more than good enough for the table top.

EDIT: I can vouch for both of the ebay stores Orlanth linked to, I've bought stuff from both of them quite frequently in the past. I used to build model railways and frequently imported stuff from Japan since it's so much cheaper than going to a UK retailer. Although why Hit Japan sells model railway stuff I've never been able to figure out, I've only bought old Saturn and PC Engine games from him.

Now I have seen the factory I have a second follow up order from Plaza Japan for two more buildings, the Tomix condominium linked to and a Greenmax office block, kit number 29.

c£15

c£13

Those containers are nice, working on a jap-side contact to secure a few to sample...

I may have to go dig this up to play with the Japanese scenery:

Why, just why, did I completely fail to account for that.

I have turned into oner of the cliche town planners from the films who thought of every possible disaster except kaiju.

nice senery

quick question: a scourge minder swarm what catagory are they in?

As per FAQ minder swarms are in Scout category.

thanks

Orlanth wrote:Why, just why, did I completely fail to account for that.

I have turned into oner of the cliche town planners from the films who thought of every possible disaster except kaiju.

To be fair it is somewhat difficult to plan for kaiju attacks unless being prepared to evacuate the city at a moments notice counts as a plan.

Huge package arrived from Hawk friday, and I must say that I am mightly impressed by the sculpts!

Updated my blog on the subject of 10mm terrain as the package inspired me to start building/planning the battlefield. Linky: http://sikilsworld.blogspot.se/2012/07/10mm-container-freight-harbour.html

Joyfull times ahead!

ok, regarding the Battlescribe files, would people prefer they're released as-is, one at a time or I do a release with all the armies?

Charax wrote:ok, regarding the Battlescribe files, would people prefer they're released as-is, one at a time or I do a release with all the armies?

I am fine with 'as is', dont know about everyone else.

As is is fine by me too.

Thank you so much for the terrain links, that stuff is excellent. o.O

I am actually starting to get excited again. Can´t wait to get my book in the coming days to see how well the game will work for me and thus which faction(s) to get.Luckily, a friend bought the PHR and Scourge starters, so we´ll be able to play in any case.